The Contortionist Part Ways With Vocalist & Keyboardist Jonathan Carpenter

Major bummer, everyone: Jonathan Carpenter, vocalist and keyboardist for The Contortionist, has left the group to focus on his personal life, as he got recently got engaged and is expecting a child:

“It’s going to be a jarring change of pace for my life, not being on the road most of the year. Making songs with the band and then performing them in front of the best fans has been a once in a lifetime experience. I wouldn’t trade the perspective I’ve found in the past few years for anything. I got to meet so many amazing people and see a good chunk of the world. I absolutely intend to keep creating and playing music in the future, albeit in a more personal pursuit.”

“I will miss seeing everyone in the TC family very much. I wish the best to all of my band buds and everyone who supports live music and all this heavy banger music we’ve been making. I feel very excited for my future with the love of my life and our pups, and our little one on the way.”

“Music has always been one of my passions and that’s what drew me to this band in the first place. The music comes first, and I know that the talent of the band will rise above this member change and they will find a new arrangement that will blow your minds.” – Jonathan Carpenter

“We are sad to see Jon go, but at the same time remain fully supportive of his decision. We look forward to the process of finding a new vocalist and writing a new record.” – Robby Baca (guitar)

The Contortionist are now seeking a full-time vocalist, but in the interim have tapped Last Chance To Reason vocalist Michael Lessard to fill in on the band’s upcoming tour dates:

“I’m happy to be helping my friends in The Contortionist for the next few months on tour as a temporary vocalist. I’ll be returning to my duties in Last Chance to Reason once these dates are finished in May. I look forward to seeing a bunch of new and familiar faces in the months to come, and to sharing new music from LCTR in the near future!” – Mike Lessard

While it’s a no-brainer why Jonathan would want to no longer live the life of a touring musician, this is a bit of a setback for The Contortionist. Since joining the band between their demo Apparition and their full-length debut Exoplanet, Jonathan has grown to be a driving force in the band’s sound through his unique vocal work and keyboard flourishes, which have become even more important with the band’s latest opus Intrinsic. Finding a dedicated and talented vocalist is hard enough, but finding one that can also proficiently play keyboard as well will be a task, and that’s assuming the group will even bother trying to continue with keys. Any way you slice it, there’s going to be a big change with whatever The Contortionist can come up with next. Hopefully it all works out well; most of us here are avid fans of the group and want to see them succeed, especially after their recent support gig for Deftones.

Be sure to check out the group on tour with Michael Lessard filling in. Here are the dates: